Things you should know before you read:
1. My party had 7 people in it - 3 adults and 4 children under the age of 12.
2. We had to drive 2.5 hours to get to Anacortes
Arriving at Outer Island Excursions, we followed the signs to the designated parking lot. We assumed, because of the signs that this is where we HAD to park. We were wrong.
I went up to the office to sign us all in because the other adults needed to stay with the children, who all needed to use the restroom, of which there were only 2 and about 20 people waiting to use them. Once in the office, the staff gave me a clipboard and told me that all of the members of my party over 18 had to sign waivers to go on the boat. Cool, but that could have been easier, if, in the several emails sent to me in the week leading up to our departure, you had included the forms. The young woman who was explaining this to me called me "Honey" about 15 times in 2 minutes. As a 35 year old toting 4 children, I was less than enthused by the moniker. At this point, I also learned that the parking in the designated lot would cost us an additional $7. This seems ludicrous to me, after the cost of our ticket and the signs telling us to park there. However, this far in, moving the car would have been challenging to our party, so we paid up and moved on.
After we had sent everyone through the bathrooms and gotten ourselves together, we had no idea what to do. We learned from other passengers that we were to gather at the picnic tables. There was no one at the picnic tables, but many people walking toward the boat. So we went out to the boat, only to be sent back to wait for the second boat. I recommend that Outer Island Excursions station a person at the picnic tables to let people know what to do! We sat, ate a little bit of our lunch and waited. 20 minutes later we were instructed to line up so we could get on the next boat.
Up to this point, I was frustrated and annoyed. The entire sign in process was needlessly cumbersome. I acknowledge this could have something to do with the size of our party and the several young members, but I still think this is the area most needing improvement.
Once on the boat, however, everything changed. Captain Drew was funny, charming, and engaging. The kids had a great time getting to know him and he was really fantastic. The women who were teaching us about the wildlife (Amber and Aubrey), were also nice, knowledgeable, and very excited by their line of work. Overall, the boat experience was nothing short of excellent.
We saw several whales, Dall's porpoises, sea lions, seals, birds, and overall had an engaging, educational, very fun time.
Check these guys out. Even the frustrating check in process is worth the great trip out on the boat!